Decisions

I've not been blogging much lately.  There are several reasons, one of which is a growing concern for the safety of The Natives.

I have loved the friendships I have been blessed with because of my blog and meeting you wonderful friends.  

With the growing evils in the world of the Internet and exploiting children I am worried about the photos that I have posted of my children and how they are being used/abused by others.

I don't know if I go private if it will matter as the photos are still 'out there'.  I've thought of maybe taking photos where their faces are blurred or not showing their heads at all...........  

Why does there have to be such evil in the world today??  Deciding.................

Story Time

Twas the night before Christmas........ when the mum told The Natives to get into their jammies....... and she'd read them a story before bed.........  they came scrambling down the stairs........ and.......... sat quietly waiting for their mother to begin.............  showing not a sign of the hyperactivity that they felt inside as the anticipation of Christmas danced in their heads.............. 

The End!

Santa???

I can't decide whether to be pleased that my son and his friend dressed up and went to a daycare as Santa and his elf or............

or terrified.....................   I'm having a hard time taking my son seriously while he is wearing gold colored tights that are way too small so the crotch sits at about his knees...................

I'm afraid this trio gave the daycare children nightmares instead of children all nestled all snug in their beds....... while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads...........

Cold Sore Update. Cuz You Know You Can't Drive By Without Looking At The Train Wreck On My Face

I know you are all dying to know how my train wreck of a face is doing.  It's been first and foremost on your minds.........  

Cold sores.  They are a nightmare.  Your lip not only hurts like someone threw a snowball at you and it was full of shards of glass, add insult to injury, it's ugly, unsightly, and your lip has blown up so big it walks in the room five minutes before the rest of your face!

Those who suffer from cold sores across the world, we are desperate for relief from the dreaded NOOOOOO when you first feel the tingling on your lip.  We scour pharmacy department shelves for any product that hints or suggests it might help with a cold sore.  We pay out the nose for products because we are desperate!

Guess what?  I've found something.  Those of you that know me tease me about my essential oils.  Yup.  I found some that help.   Just putting it out there to all of the other desperate, "Please don't let this be the day I wake up with a Godzilla lip" peoples out there.

1 drop Melissa
1 drop Malaleuca
1 drop DigestZen

Apply every hour for the first day.

Why?  Because my lip looks and feels normal after one day of this treatment.

The End.

I'm Doomed!

I don't even ask a whiney why anymore.  Feel sorry for myself, yes.  I woke up with a cold sore on my lip.  Those who suffer from cold sores know the indignity of the darn things.  I suppose if it were only the cold sore alone..... I might muster up the courage to laugh at the train wreck on my face but, remember this post?

The one titled, 'Frankenstein........Your Bride Is Looking For You'.    Yeah.  It's back.  I'm covered.  Have been for about a month now trying everything and anything to get rid of it again.......  fungus!

So, instead of sitting here in a puddle of tears which I feel like doing, I am going to tell you why The SM is so amazing.

As you can see, it requires three ladders just to decorate the dumb thing.  Two nights ago I had Mr. B help me start to string the lights on the tree.  Six strands......  twernt near enough.  We got maybe half way down and that was only because we did a zig zag effect not bothering to put lights on the back of the tree.  More lights!  We needed more lights!  The SM got in his car and went from store to store to store.  No more lights left.  WHAT???  Since when are people on the ball and buying out all of the lights this early?

Yesterday I talked Kristen into coming with me on an adventure to find some lights and other Christmasy stuffs.  We drove to stores about 40 minutes from our home.  Bingo!  We found lights.  Lots of them.  I bought two big reels of lights.  We noticed that you could buy lights that were a soft yellow white light or a bright white light.  Oh!  The bright white light.  I'm sure that is what is on the top half of my tree.

I string the new set of lights on the bottom half of our tree, plug them in and........... the top half is soft yellow white lights.......... the bottom half is a glaring white light that is NOT pleasant to the eye.  The soft yellow white light looks more like candle light........  Fine!  I'm stubborn.  I am NOT going out to get more lights.  I take the other big strand of lights I'd bought and decide I am just going to cover up the yellow lights up top.  I'm not taking them off, I'm just going to string on more and hopefully no one will notice the horrendous light job......  I get Mr. B to help me again and we string the other huge strand of lights on the top of the tree.

Job done I stand back and look at the mess we've created.  I hate it.  The whole tree, you can't look at it.  The white lights are so bright.  I'm stubborn.  I insist that it looks fine.  I am NOT redoing the tree.  The SM tells me it won't do.  The lights are too bright.  NO THEY ARE NOT!  I insist they are fine.  They are perfect.  They are lovely.  They brighten up the whole house.  Isn't that wonderful?  (I hate them........)

I finally admit to The SM that they are awful but I'm not going to redo the lights yet again!  It's too much of a pain.  The SM climbs the ladders and pulls off all of the lights, goes and returns the lights and buys another big set of lights on  a huge reel.  Comes home and proceeds to put the lights on the lower half of  the tree since they now match the upper half of the tree with the yellow white lights.  Plug in the lights!!!

Half of the lights are dead......................  He takes the lights off the tree AGAIN, goes BACK to the store........ buys some more lights............. comes home................ restrings those lights onto the tree..........

My tree now looks perfect and beautiful.  All of the lights match.  They are a soft candly glow.

You can't see the glow of the lights on the tree though because the glow in my heart for The SM outshines the glow of the tree lights.......  Any man who is willing to go through all that hassle for me, so our tree looks perfect, AND love me even when I am covered in fungus and a train wreck on my face.........  The man should be exalted at this point.

Projects

It's that time of year when I am frantically trying to do all of the homemade gift ideas I'd had all year and put off until the last minute.  Thank heavens for hot cocoa with a little bit of peppermint.

Busy

Busy celebrating this Natives 14th birthday........

Busy making triple berry pies.........

Busy celebrating bounty and things we are thankful for...........

Busy hiking up into the mountains looking for the perfect tree............

Busy laughing at a tree with eight legs.............

Busy having melty mom moments when I look back and see Mr. M holding a stick in front of his little brother so his brother has an easier time making it down the steep mountain...........

And later as little brother continues to hold onto the stick older brother uses to help him.

 Busy watching The SM and several Natives try to get the tree on the truck............

Busy running outside to take a moment to appreciate God's artistry when Mr. M asks me to join him....

Busy............... means I'm healthy and doing well.  I like busy..............

Feelings

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me".  Or do they......?

A science fair project.  Mr. M chose for his project:  Do Plants Have Feelings?

The experiment:  Purchase two plants that are the exact same.  Treat them exactly the same except for one thing.  Each day Mr. M would take plant A up into his bedroom, close the door, and tell plant A five negative things.  You're ugly.  Pink is an ugly color.  etc.  Then he would bring plant A back and take plant B up to his room, close the door, and tell plant B five positive things.  You are such a pretty plant.  Pink is such a pretty color.  You are so strong.  Etc.

Day one.  Both plants look the same.

Day 2:  We're already seeing signs.  Plant A has some leaves that are starting to wilt.

Day three:  Plant A loses a leaf.

And so it goes....... plant A starts to lose leaves.  Several leaves a day and the pink color starts to fade.

More leaves fall.........


Plant B hasn't lost any leaves.

So many leaves lost...........  the pink not as vibrant............  plant B thrives while sitting next to it plant A struggles.

More leaves drop.

And then the stems start to droop.  No longer able to hold themselves up after 14 days of being told negative things.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me".  False!  Be careful what and how you speak to others.  

P.S.  Experiment lasted 14 days.  The second the experiment ended we have been lavishing much love on plant A and we are happy to announce that plant A is thriving and happy under it's new love and attention.  Which brings us to another lesson.  Repentance and forgiveness.  May we all be as forgiving as our little plant A.  

What A Mother Will Do For Her Son

Once upon a time there was a boy who loved Halloween.  He loved it so much he would spend months figuring out what he wanted to be and then he would start working on his costume.

He spent hours with a friend building a shield and a boomerang.  He then came to his mother and asked her to do the sewing part.  His mother, despite being the wicked witch of the west, had a soft place in her heart or a lapse in her memory of the gnashing of teeth from every year previous sewing costumes for her little boy, agreed.

The wicked witch of the west began sewing her little boy's (who isn't a little boy any longer) costume.  She started with some boots, then she made a belt, and a belty thingy to go over the shoulder to hold a sword.  Then she started on the red dressy thingy only we don't call it a dress because it is on a boy who is very much all boy.  Knowing her boy is all boy the wicked witch of the west sewed some shorts to go under the dress but isn't a dress thing because this boy especially doesn't know how to hold his knees together.  Lastly, the hat.

As in years past there was much gnashing of teeth and allergies making eyes watery as the wicked witch of the west had much pain in her lower back after hours and hours spent hunched over her sewing machine.

She resolved that she would quit and never sew another costume in her life ever again as she is NOT a sewer........ but alas........  the little boy knew how to melt the wicked witches hard and crusty heart by coming over to her many a time and putting his arms around the witch would tell her how much he loved her and how proud he was of her for doing something hard and he thought the costume was perfect and that she was doing a good job.  The wicked witch loved her son so much that she cast a spell upon him and transformed him into a little elf.  Pointy ears and all........  You might recognize this little elf.......  enter the land of Zelda and you will see a red Link.  A red Link who conquers all!  Which is why they lived happily ever after.

THE END!

Another Project completed

It's snowing this morning and next week is Halloween.

Every baby should have a cute beanie hat with skulls and crossbones on it for this time of year!  

Forgive me............

But it was too delicious a moment to pass up..............  Because everyone takes a Sunday afternoon nap with their cool aviator glasses on and their mouth hanging open.  Sadly, I missed the real photo op.  A bit later I walked by and the trap was REALLY open catching flies.

FINALLY!!!

Now that my great nephew is born, raised, gone to college, gotten married I've finished his little baby knit vest!!

Maybe he can use it as an aerated sock if it doesn't fit.....

I used the Cascade 220 Super Wash Sport yarn for this project.  My first time doing argyle.  Quite fun actually and since I was knitting with my two favorite colors, red and blue...... doubly fun!

P. S.  Alex, don't read this or look at this post until little (I'm hoping he's still little) S.'s package arrives!

Now that I've finished with this project I am onto other projects.  I'm knitting some slippers for Henny Penny at the moment to be felted.  Really really hoping they turn out.  If they don't, we'll have some fancy wool to slip onto our hands and dust the house with.

Happy Friday!!  The SM has been gone all week and flies in tonight.  I can't wait.  Sleeping snuggled up to his pillow just isn't the same...............

Day 3 Fall Break

Day 3:  There are a lot of photos.  We loaded up in the truck early in the morning and didn't get home until 11:00 PM.  The day was full and fun.  Can you see it?  Can you see what we were looking and searching for all day?  Look close in the rock.

South of where we live is a place called Nine Mile Canyon.  Why it is called that is beyond me because the canyon is more like, 40 miles long.  It is literally an art gallery left by the Fremont and Ute Indians.

An art gallery that was more like a scavenger hunt.  We had a map.  A sort of map.   A really lousy one actually but because it was lousy it made it more of an adventure for us.  Most of the sites where you find these petroglyphs aren't marked.  On the 'map', it would tell us to drive so many miles and then to look for such and such.

So, we'd set out odometer and when it reached approximately where we thought it should be, we'd get out and start clambering and climbing around searching for more art work.

Some of the petroglyphs were closer to the road while others were quite a climb and took a bit of searching.

We loved the texture.  The Sheep.  Look at the little dots on the sheep depicting the wool.

Head dresses on the figures.  Lots of scorpions.  Most of the petroglyphs had a scorpion somewhere on them.

We also noticed that the Indians would find rocks like these that had a darker background and this is where they would carve their pictures.  Not always, but often.

This Native climbed up to this ledge which makes your heart stop to get a closer look at some art work up on the ledge.  I gave him my camera and had him take photos as I don't seem to have the ability to climb like I did when I was younger and not get woozy when looking down.

Climbing to the ledge wasn't good enough.  He and Mr. M had to climb to the very top.

I wonder how long it took them to carve out these pictures.

A perfect little nook.

Why can't this punk smile like a normal child??

A sphinx.
 

The petroglyphs are fascinating but this 'village' was even more so to me.

Hard to see but The Scout Master is climbing around with The Natives looking at all of the rocks that had been dug into that were made into homes for the Indians.  They would use the rocks as walls for their shelters.

Care to grind some flour?

Or maybe you'd rather take a stick and play in the water.

Hard to see in this photo but these rocks were a foundation to an Indian home.  I wish I could get a better birds eye view so you could see the rooms and hall way.

One lone Indian Paintbrush.  Very fitting we thought.

This structure was SO fascinating.  There are two big rocks on top of each other that made up the roof.  Under has been dug out and chipped out to form rooms and passages.  You can't stand up in these rooms which makes you wonder at just how comfortable this could possibly be.

I don't imagine that the Indians spent much time inside of here except in the winter perhaps.  It would have been great for protecting from the elements though.

This is what it looks like from the outside.  Sitting outside looking out at the valley below, it is spectacular!  Just gorgeous.  Why did I not take a picture?  Who knows............

This is taken from the other side.  The first photos were taken from the east side.  This is from the west side.

And this is more from the south side.

And this is where I had a heart attack when I realized that just beyond the doors of this shelter was this drop off!  My little Natives were climbing and playing all over before I got to them and I shudder to think if they'd come near this drop off before I got to them.   It does give you an idea though of the view from this structure and how beautiful the valley is below.

We called this the biffy.  Out door bathroom facilities.

This is actually a famous piece of art.  People have put this on t-shirts, have painted this scene.....

As you can see, it is called, "The Great Hunt".

A lovely spot to stop and have a picnic lunch.

But not before asking some other adventurous folks to take a picture of us.  Sad....... I don't like having one of my Natives missing.  Darn college exams!!  Mr. B wasn't able to go on this adventure with us either...

Levi.  Gosh I love this kid!

Take notice of Native Mr. C who won't let me take his picture.  He knows I am trying to get a picture of my boys sitting on the fence so he does this.

And this:

And this:
(I told him I see monkeys acting just like him.  Letting their food hang out of their mouths..... crossing their eyes.........)

More crossing of the eyes.........

Trying to get a good wad of food to stick out again.........

Making scrunchy faces..........

Sticking more food out.........

Sticking food out even further............ Mr. T is getting disgusted with his brother.

Charming isn't he?  Mr. T is completely turned away and Mr. M is bailing off the fence.

Back to the rock house with the drop off on the side.  This is from across the valley.  You can see the rock house about 3/4 of the way up the photo.

When we saw this photo we busted up laughing.  Mr. J is depicting what he sees in the petroglyphs but Henny Penny's shadow!!!  SHE'S A WITCH!

Normal.  Can I please just have one normal smile out of this punk?

Snakes.  My Native who loves anything reptilian and creepy crawly.  Shudder.......

I thought this one was charming.......  A family.

Mr. T knows I hate snakes so he wanted us to be sure and find the petroglyph that was a huge snake.  For me.   This photo was taken just for me.  At this point I was all for sitting in the truck and giving my camera to The Scout Master.  This is a gift to me from Mr. T.  So thoughtful.........

Again.  I think at this point I don't have to point out the punk in the middle and his lack of ability to smile normal.  He's been taking lessons from Mr. C

Sadly, there are those who had to go and scratch their own initials and graffiti into the rocks.  We saw a lot of this.  They (who ever 'they' is) are thinking about closing down this canyon so it can be preserved because of people who are defacing.

These dots were another thing we would see a lot of.  I don't know anything about petroglyphs to know what they mean.......

On the 'map' we were given, it told us to look for the rock that looked like Porky Pig.  Found it!  Do you see it?  This was the last set of petroglyphs we went searching for before heading home.  We were told to look for Porky Pig and around the corner behind we would find another panel of rocks with petroglphys on it.

And that folks, wraps up our Fall break.  The Natives are all back in school.  I am looking at buckets of apples they've picked off our trees and trying to get up the energy/desire to cut up all of those apples and make them into apple sauce.  I think I second what Henny Penny said on her way out the door this morning for school.  "I wish Fall Break was all this week too"!

Yeah.  Me too............